Best PlacesBowman, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bowman, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bowman ranks 3,880th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bowman
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Bowman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bowman ranks high
- Household income$187,889 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
Where Bowman ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bowman
A household needs to earn about $507,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bowman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $187,889, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Bowman's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bowman
Bowman runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bowman.
Who works in Bowman, and how
Work in Bowman centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 42%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bowman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bowman.
What the weather is like in Bowman, month by month
Bowman sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 28° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 40° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 63° | 41° |
| October | 65° | 43° | 25° |
Flying in and out of Bowman
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bowman
Schools across Bowman average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Glenshire ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Tahoe Lake ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Truckee ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Tahoe MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Alder Creek MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- North Tahoe HighA− · 62% proficient
- Tahoe Truckee HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bowman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bowman measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Bowman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bowman
Is Bowman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bowman ranks 3,880th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bowman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,952,566. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $187,889 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Bowman safe?
Bowman is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
Compare Bowman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bowman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bowman represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Bowman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bowman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bowman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bowman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bowman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bowman detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.